A 13-year-old weaponizes lies against the system — and you can't look away.
Due to drug abuse, a 13-year-old boy is placed into a detention center for young offenders. After a week, the judge will decide if he must stay there or go back home. Confronted with the adults, the judge, the psychologist and the social workers, the boy uses his most effective power to rebel against them all: lying.
Acting
Michaël Toch's stare could freeze a courtroom.
Direction
De Pierpont makes 20 minutes feel like a prison sentence.
Editing
Rapid-fire cuts mirror Lionel's spiraling lies.
Director
Damien de Pierpont
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Belgium's 1990s youth detention reforms made this painfully topical — the system was literally being debated as the film released.
The title's cruel irony: Lionel's lies expose more truth than the adults' professional 'objectivity.'
FR
